HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 2000-4792, by Representatives Ogden, Pennington, Quall, Talcott, Carlson, Wensman, Esser, McDonald, Thomas and D. Schmidt

      WHEREAS, Washington was created as a representative democracy in which all governmental power is inherent in the people who exercise that power through the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; and

      WHEREAS, Benjamin Rush, signer of the Declaration of Independence, stated, "There is but one method of rendering a republican form of government durable, and that is by disseminating the seeds of virtue and knowledge through every part of the state by means of proper places and modes of education, and this can be done effectively only by the aid of the legislature"; and

      WHEREAS, Civic education is a vital tool to promote greater understanding of the legislative institution and the role of legislators in representative democracy; and

      WHEREAS, The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) urges the nation's state legislatures to promote civic education about representative democracy; and

      WHEREAS, NCSL has established America's Legislators Back to School Day, a national day on which state legislators across the nation visit schools and classrooms to talk about the legislature and to observe activities in the schools; and

      WHEREAS, Legislators will benefit from interacting with students, teachers, and administrators;

      NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the state of Washington support civic education to promote greater understanding of the legislative institution and the role of legislators in representative democracy, declare that September be designated as Washington Legislators Back to School Month, and urge all members of the legislature to visit schools during that month.

    I hereby certify this to be a true and correct copy of

    Resolution 4792 adopted by the House of Representatives

                        March 8, 2000.

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Timothy A. Martin, Co-Chief Clerk Cynthia Zehnder, Co-Chief Clerk